Betta

Grammie and Grampie Shaver got Iva a fish tank for her birthday. Her betta got a major upgrade and she loves it! There are snails on the way. Iva is obsessed with snails and can hardly wait for the mailman to bring them. Iva draws her fish tank about 100 times a day.

Up and running...

We have our first two fish in the tank. I should say our first two of take two. All the kinks have been worked out and there will not be another Finding Nemo moment.

The fish are still a little skiddish so this the best picture I could get.

Finding Nemo

Yesterday, Shawn and I got the first "cycling" fish for our tank.We picked one that is supposed to be good for beginning tanks, easy, and cheap (just in case.) I really wanted green chromis, but Petco didn't have any of them in stock. So we ended up with a four striped damsel.

Last night, he seemed to be fine. He was swimming around, eating, and wasn't bothering the 10 hermit crabs in the tank. Well, sometime last night that changed.

I woke up at 6 am to Shawn shining a flashlight in the tank. I couldn't figure out what was going on.

"What are you doing?"
"I can't find my fish. And I didn't want to turn on the light and wake you up."
" I am up now. Turn it on."

Shawn spent the next half hour looking for his fish. He looked everywhere- under the fridge, tank, bathroom, etc. He completely took apart his tank and finally found the fish. Fish had a finding Nemo moment last night and swam into the pump. Unfortanetly, he was no Nemo and we no longer have a cycling fish.

Because...

it is completely normal to have rotting shrimp in your apartment!

You should have seen the lady's face at Winco when Shawn asked for four shrimp. They didn't register on the scale so we ended up with about ten. GROSS!

Let there be light...

One last "thought" before plugging it in for a test run.
The test run was successful! Let there be light!

 Shawn has been working really hard on getting his fish tank exactly how he wants it.This weekend was the lighting system. I had no idea what that meant until he asked for my help. He soldered, attached wires, drilled holes, etc. My job was to hold the right colored wires together while he soldered them. At one point, my hands were shaking... I realized then that this is definitely not the job for me. But it was pretty cool when he plugged it in and I was blinded by thirty white and blue LED lights... I only saw black dots for the rest of the night!

Notice: My sewing machine shoved in the back corner :( 

Updates...

Shawn and I both have been busy working on projects. When he is working on his fish tank, I am sewing the baby's quilt that was supposed to be done months ago. Here's the latest...

The stand is almost done. Since the pictures were taken... he has finished the cupboard doors and mold work. He just has to sand it, prime it, and paint it now. It is pretty fancy looking these days.

The quilt is DONE! And I am glad to say that is one completed project! (I have a bad habit of starting projects and never finishing them.) Next on my list of projects is a diaper bag. Wish me luck!

Shawn's Back!!!

Shawn took the MCAT on Friday and I got my husband back! Well, sort of... he came back and got right back on the fish tank bandwagon.

So far...

He has live rock soaking in the bathroom. It has been in there for the last month! And Dug has only swam in it once so far. We are waiting for the pH test to come in the mail and then we will know how much longer we have till the tank is fish ready.

This weekend, we went to Home Depot and got all the supplies for his tank stand. He designed the stand so all of his plumbing is hidden and he has a sump inside the stand for cleaning and maintaining the tank. It is pretty awesome.

We, also, went to Petco this weekend. Shawn told me he would let me pick up some of the fish for the tank. I looked at all the different fish and picked the one I liked. Oh, don't worry it was only $60 for the flame angel. I guess I will leave the fish picking up to Shawn.

Isn't it pretty cool though?

Oyster Shells

Shawn has an obsession with salt water tanks. He has spent hours researching them and designing his dream tank. For Valentine's Day and his birthday, I found a fish tank off of Craigslist for him and the adventures have begun...

Today we began phase one... making live rock for the tank. It is really expensive to buy so Shawn thought it would be better to make his own. The first step was crushing oyster shells. We tried to crush them in the house, but it was too loud and not working. We decided to go to Beaver Dick park and use the rocks there... so here is to our adventure.

Shawn scouting out the perfect place.

He found the perfect rock for smashing.

Hard at work.

I was the "inspector." I was to sort through and find ones more than an inch long.

When I did find them, I used my handy dandy rock hammer.

Finished product

Taking in the scenery...

Sunbathing and relaxing.

Shawn mocking me.